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Edward Nygma
"When I want things to disappear, they stay buried." Edward Nygma, secretly the criminal mastermind known as The Riddler, is a cyber-terrorist, corporate strategist and masked criminal. A savant with a supremely logical mind, astounding intellect and an uncanny attention to detail, Nygma has used his considerable resources and keen intellect to become The Riddler, the world's only consulting criminal. Personality A criminal genius, Edward Nygma, aka The Riddler, appears to be a sociopathic and psychopathic individual, exhibiting the following traits: extreme intelligence, grandiosity, incapacity for remorse, arrogance, and an unhealthy degree of self-confidence. Something of a loner, Edward has never had many friends. He is often cold and condescending to others, though he has shown the capacity to be friendly and warm, especially toward Barbara and her family. Edward has a sarcastic, cynical and dry sense of humor, though with Barbara he displays a side of him that is surprisingly goofy. To most, however, Edward Nygma is a brilliant mind, just....unpleasant to be around. Just like Batman, Edward is vastly intelligent. He was also highly skilled at manipulation, as even Batman found it hard to predict The Riddler's next move. Despite his normally calm demeanor, Edward hs the capacity to be hot-tempered and capable of violent mood swings. These drastic changes in behavior are not characteristic of him, however. Most days, he is very calm, collected and six moves ahead of everyone else on the board. Edward has a deep, abiding love for technology, riddles, brain-teasers and similar puzzles. His mind is like a steel trap, retaining every piece of information he comes across that he finds useful. He views the world in a strictly analytical way, which allows him to process any problem or situation as a logic exercise and, thus, think of an efficient--and often brilliant--way to solve the problem. He approaches problems with tunnel-vision, and once he sets his sighs on something, there's no stopping him from accomplishing his goal. Before he became Edward Nygma, he was Eddie Nashton. Even before his turn to becoming the Riddler, Edward was shown to be surprisingly vengeful, resourceful and calculating for his age, arranging the deaths of others from a young age. In 2012, he killed his father through the use of an elaborate booby trap designed to look like a gas explosion, which led to a series of events that would pit him against the Batman and change his life forever. Edward is obsessed with Batman and proving he is smarter than him. In a way, he appears to enjoy his role as a villain, showing a callous indifference for other people's lives. A sort of puppetmaster, Riddler has shown to have a broad spectrum of influence in the criminal underworld, especially in Gotham. He seems to know how to control people, who refers to as chess pieces, and his ability predict and manipulate events is Machiavellian; he has complete mastery of terrorist techniques and various intimidation strategies. A prime example of this trait was shown when he intimidated Professor Pyg by threatening to erase any evidence of his daughter's existence. History Early Life Edward Nygma was born Edward Verne Nashtn, jr in the small town of Echo Bay, Washington. His mother died in childbirth, so he was raised by his single father, after whom he was named (referred to as Big Ed, the Refrigeration King of Wakhohonou County). Edward was a fussy baby who, when he was only a year old, was involved in a car accident which damaged his father's leg, forcing him to walk with a cane. The accident made Big Ed resent his son, as he had grown to see him as the reason that he not only lost his wife, but his mobility and freedom. Big Ed became verbally and physically abusive; he isolated Edward from other children, humiliated him and did his best to make his son feel stupid and inadequate, often by correcting him whenever he got something wrong, even minute errors. This constant cycle of humiliation, shaming and bullying caused Edward to become very lonely and very anxious, developing obsessive-compulsive disorder. Edward was bullied by the kids at school, as well, but he enjoyed going to school; he saw it as a sanctuary away from his father. Observant and brilliant, Edward alway excelled (though of course, Big Ed always found a reason why his grades weren't good enough). He was never allowed to skip a grade because Big Ed never signed off on it; there was no way his idiot son was smart enough to skip grades. As such, Edward worked even harder to prove his father wrong. Friends In the 7th grade, he was saved from a particularly nasty bully by Wally West and his friend, fellow nerd Ted Kord. The two chased the bully off and took Edward under their wing. The three became inseperable friends after that, though Edward was always quiet. Edward did well in high school, excelling and spending time with Wally and Ted. In the 9th grade, Edward joined the school paper, where he quickly found a niche designing weekly word challenges and puzzles featured on the back page. Young Justice When the events of Young Justice began, Edward was still just the shy friend of Wally West and Ted Kord, living under the thumb of his abusive, neglectful father. During the 2011-2012 school year, Edward met''' a new student, '''Diana Prince, on the bus on the way to school. He was immediately infatuated with her and it was this attraction that would change his life forever. At the end of the first week of school, Wally threw a party on the beach outside town. Edward, not normally one to attend such parties, was coaxed into attending by Wally, who told him Diana Prince would be coming. Edward never saw Diana at the party, but he was present during the Storm; in fact, he was standing only feet from Wally when lighting struck him. Over the following months, Edward became more and more isolated from his former friends (who, unbeknownst to him, were acting as superheroes). Even when he won a state-wide Riddle contest, he got little to no recognition from his friends or his father. All of this caused him to grow more and more frustrated, and in turn, he lashed out at Wally, calling him a "terrible friend". Though Edward regretted this, he refused to apologize. During the events of the Season 1 finale, Edward's eyes were opened to the existence of costumed, masked heroes. Early in Season 2, Edward was the victim of a female supervillain, which only served to isolate Edward from his former friends. It was directly after this incident that Edward told Wally that he hated him, something from which they never made up. The First Riddle Just before Christmas of 2012, Edward endured a particularly brutal beating and verbal lashing from his father. Tired of being bullied and terrorized, Edward set to work to get his revenge, inspired by the masked vigilantes with colorful names who took the law into their own hands. Smearing facepaint across his eyes and wearing a bright green trenchcoat, Edward styled himself as The Riddler, attacking his father with a chloroform rag. When Big Ed came to, he saw a recording of his son, who informed him that he was in a death trap and the only way out was to solve a riddle. Big Ed guess wrong and the house exploded, designed to look like a gas leak. Edward then used his computer to siphon off all of the money in his father's savings and the former refrigerator business, using that to finance his new lifestyle. Freed and powerful for the first time in his life, Edward traveled to Seattle, where he robbed Kord Industries, Queen Consolidated and Luthor Steelworks, each time broadcasting his crime first via a cryptic video that presented a riddle. Riddler vs. The Team It was about this time that Riddler first clashed with The Team. He was prepared, however; he'd observed them for some time and managed to disable Superman, The Flash, The Green Lantern, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Robin, Red Tornado and Hawk Girl. In the end, it was down to Riddler, Wonder Woman and the enigmatic Batman. Riddler had set up a masterful plan, one with seemingly no answer. Batman, however, not only guessed the answer but turned the riddle around on him; he used the Skeleton Key program to decrypt Riddler's programs and defeated him. In despair and rage at being shown-up and outsmarted by Batman, Riddler set off a series of bombs he'd hidden in the Space Needle. To everyone else, Edward perished in the explosion. In a way, he did; Eddie Nashton died that night and the Riddler walked away. Gotham City Having only narrowly survived the events in Seattle, Edward traveled to Gotham City, Virginia; he had heard storied about how corrupt the city really was and knew that if he wanted to start over, that would be the place to start. He created a whole new identity for himself: Edward Nygma. This was only the first step to his plan of eventually using his superior intellect to run Gotham City as The Riddler. But he knew this time, he'd need to be patient and play the long game. He enrolled at Gotham State University, during which time he dated an unfaithful Drama Major. He seemed to enjoy his time in college, from all accounts. He majored in Criminology and Computer Sciences. During this time, he did a lot fo work as a Lighting Tech for the Drama Department (where he learned how effective theatrics were for his eventual career path). He also became the most successful contestant in the history of quiz game show Quizmaster. He was so successful that his run allegedly bankrupted the show. For show, he donated his winnings to charity (a charity of his choosing, which of course, he also founded). Using his prize money as capital, Edward began to act as an independent Corporate Strategist, while approaching people in the East End and in small gangs or select criminal organizations, offering his services as a "Criminal Consultant". To get his help, one only had to find his forum on Tor (no easy feat) and send him a message that began, "Dear Riddler, please solve it for me". He would help the people design the perfect crimes, and with his help, crime outside of the major families began to flourish for the first time. But even as The Riddler's reputation started to grow, Edward always knew the Batman would come back. Gotham City was the perfect challenge for a man like the Bat; the world's dirtiest city. Sooner or later, it was going to be a battle of wits; a chess game for the soul of Gotham City. A game Riddler was determined to win. GCPD In 2014, Edward started work at the Gotham City Police Department Forensics unit. His natural brilliance made him a natural for the job, but it also allowed him to be in the belly of the beast, and to keep an eye on patterns of crimes for future reference, and also to observe other criminals in the city. Around the same time, Barbara Gordon also began working at the lab. Edward was immediately taken with the young scientist, though he did not voice these feelings for some time. Overall, Edward enjoyed a prosperous and respected stint at the Department. In mid-2016, Edward started hearing rumors the Batman's activities in Gotham, during which time he began to enact his plan to defeat and humiliate Batman once and for all. It wasn't until September of that year, however, that Batman and Riddler first came into contact, setting off a chain of events that would bring Edward to face his greatets challenge yet.... Notable Accomplishments --Present for the Echo Bay Storm (Young Justice, S01E01) --Killed his own father; became the Riddler (Young Justice; Season 2) Notable Victories --Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, the Martian, Hawk Girl, Red Tornado, Green Arrow, Robin and Aquaman. (Young Justice; Season 2) Relationships with Others Barbara Gordon Edward first met Barbara during his first week of working for the GCPD Forensics annd Cyber Crime Division. While initially unimpressed with her dorky, kind demeanor, he soon saw just how brilliant she was when she closed her first case before Edward closed his. Over the next two years, he longingly watched her from afar, playing little mind-teasers and puzzles (of his own design) with her. He knew he was in love with her, but he never said anything. Then she left. For a month, Edward worked in the GCPD without her and found it unbearable. He finally confessed his love to her, to which she surprisingly reciprocated (after a short time). The two are now happy and moving in together. His love for Barabra is the only good thing about Edward. Her compassion and her pure, gentle soul have a strange effect on Edward. She brings out a goofy, nerdy side of him that he didn't even know was there anymore; the last vestige of Eddie Nashton, and he's only there for Barbara. He is fiercely protective of her and would kill to keep her safe. In the end, Barbara Gordon is either going to be Edward's redemption or his downfall. The Batman Edward hates the Batman, the only person to ever outsmart and defeat the Riddler. Since then, Edward has become obsessed with not just defeating Batman, but proving that he is smarter and overall better than the Dark Knight. Edward will stop at nothing untill the Batman is defeated once and for all. Clients Edward is a consulting criminal who plans out and arranges for crimes to take place under the alias of "The Riddler". People contact him and pay him in exchange for planning out "perfect" crimes for their personal benefit. His area of expertise ranges from faking one's own death to art forgery to climbing the ladder of the criminal underworld. He is cautious to never communicate to his clients directly as to avoid being identified, often just leaving them with his name as the only thing they know about him. '--Lazlo Valentin: '''The Ukrainian madman known as Professor Pyg turned to Nygma after Falcone's men tried to have him killed. He made a deal for Nygma to get him the resources he'd need to "make the world perfect", in exchange for distracting Batman. '--Oswald Cobblepot:' The elusive leader of the Umbrealla Group turned to Nygma to help him rise the ranks of Gotham's underworld. Powers and Abilities Mundane Abilities '--Analytical Mind: Edward's mind is naturally inclined toward puzzles, riddles and other logic-based activities. Because of this. he is able to quickly and efficiently think his way out of almost any problem. '''--Escapology: Much like solving a puzzle, Edward is an expert at escaping bonds or restraints. '--Genius-level Intellect:' Edward's intellect far exceeds the genuis standard; indeed, his IQ is easily in the top 5% of people worldwide. His IQ is said to almost be that of Lex Luthor. He is educated on a wide variety of topics and subjects. '--Investigation:' Edward is an excellent detective, able to connect the dots in any mystery very quickly. '--Polyscience: '''Despite his relatively young age, Edward is supremelly gifted as several diferent sciences and mathematics. '--Technology: Edward is an expert with technology or gadgets of any kind. Barbara has said that Edward is the only person she knows who is as good--if not better--at computers than she is. Paraphernelia '--Cane: '''This cane is about the size of a large walking stick, with a glowing, green question mark topping it. He is skilled using it as a fighting staff, but its true utility lies in the array of unlicensed and untraceable technology inside, including a taser, computer interface, EMP emitter and other handy gadgets. '--Cell Phone: 'Edward uses this jail-broken cell phone to conduct his business. It is untraceable and has dozens of illegal, dangerous apps installed. '--Riddler Costume: A basic costume Edward has assembled, based on and improved from his original Riddler costume from 2012. Weaknesses '--Arrogant:' Edward really is an arrogant bastard. '--Obsession:' Edward is obsessed with defeating Batman, to the detriment of everything else. Notes --Eddie Nashton' faceclaim was Thomas Sangster; adult Edward Nygma's faceclaim is Tom Felton. --Riddler is the primary antagonist of Season 1. Trivia --Edward's favorite colors are green and purple. --Loves Indy music. The more obscure the better. --Doen't really drink outside of PBR or wine. --Reads Sun Tzu's The Art of War once a year. --Favorite movie is Inception. --Is allergic to shellfish. Hates parrots. --Is apparently a skilled dancer. --Has an urge to confess wrongdoings in the form of little riddles. Category:Male Characters Category:Native of Earth-Prime Category:Supervillain Category:Neutral Evil Characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:GCPD Category:Gotham Knights Category:Human